learn our duty in this matter. Let Let every labouring and heavy laden finner, who hears me this day, fpeedily betake himself to the same happy courfe: plead his own call, and humbly claim his gracious protection; flee without delay to his atoning blood, and cleave to him as the Lord your " righteousness, and your ftrength.”—I fhall afterwards represent to you thofe fure grounds of hope which may encourage you to do this: In the mean time, let us to confider

The gracious promise with which our Lord enforces the invitation: I will give you reft. This was the

Third thing I proposed to illuftrate.

There can be no doubt that the rest here fpoken of, muft be, at leaft, of equal extent with the burthen, and include a deliverance from every caufe of trouble to the foul. But this fubject is an ocean without bottom or fhore; we cannot measure the length or breadth of it, neither can its depth be fathomed; for "the riches of Chrift " are unfearchable ;" and furely no tongue can express what the mind itself is unable to comprehend. Nevertheless I fhall attempt to fay a few things which may be of ufe to help forward your comfort and joy, till eternity fhall unfold the whole to your view.

Doth the guilt of fin, and the curfe of the law, lie heavy upon thy foul?" Behold the Lamb of "God which taketh away the fin of the world.” In the facrifice of Chrift there is an infinite merit. that can never be exhaufted. He hath fatisfied the most extenfive demands of juftice, and pur

chafed

chafed a full and everlafting indemnity to every penitent believing finner: fo that "now there "is no condemnation to them which are in "Chrift Jefus." No fooner doth a foul come to him in the manner I defcribed, than it " paffeth "from death to life." He fpreads his righteoufnefs over it, and, under that covering, presents it to his heavenly Father: from that happy moment it is no longer under the law, but under grace: For Chrift hath redeemed us from the

curfe of the law, by his being made a curfe "for us." And what a plentiful fource of confolation is this! Well may the finner "be of "good cheer," to whom Chrift hath faid, "Thy "fins are forgiven thee."

Do you feel a law in your members warring against the law of your mind? Are you harraffed with temptations, and fo environed with a "body of death," that you are made to cry out, as Paul once did, "O wretched man, who fhall "deliver me!" Look up to that Prince and Saviour, whom God hath exalted, not only to give remiffion of fins, but likewise to bestow repentance upon his people, and grace to help them in every time of need. Chrift hath obtained the Holy Spirit, by whofe almighty aid the Chriftian can do all things. He will plant that immortal feed in your hearts, which fhall gradually kill the weeds of corruption: fo that, according to his faithful word of promife, though fin may lodge and fight within you, yet it fhall not be able to get "dominion over you."

Do you fear that fome unforeseen caufe may provoke him to forfake you, to withdraw his

.

love, and the communications of his grace? Know that "the gifts and calling of God are "without repentance." Chrift is the "good "fhepherd, who carries the lambs in his bofom;' and therefore they cannot perifh, because none is ftrong enough to pluck them out of his hand. The believer is not left to ftand by himfelf; he who is the author is likewife the finisher of his people's faith. Omnipotence is their guardian; and they are "kept," not by their own ftrength, but " by the power of God, through faith unto "falvation.'

دو

Thefe three are furely the heaviest burdens with which the foul of man can be oppreffed; and you fee that the Lord Jefus is able to remove them all. There are, no doubt, many other causes of difcouragement to which we are liable, fo long as we fojourn in this valley of tears; but as none of them are equal to those I have already named, we may certainly conclude, that he who performs the greater work, can, with infinite eafe, perform the leffer alfo. And indeed, if I might ftay upon this branch of the subject, it would be no difficult tafk to fhew, that in all other respects believers" are complete in Chrift," and may by faith derive from him whatever is neceffary either for their fafety or comfort in this world: "For it "hath pleafed the Father, that in him fhould all "fullnefs dwell," as it is written, Coloff. i. 19.

But if we would behold the rest here spoken of in its utmoft extent, and higheft perfection, we must look above us to that heavenly world, from which fin, and all the painful effects of it, are eternally excluded. "There remaineth a

"reft,"

وو

"réft," faid the Apostle, "for the people of "God." Great and manifold are their privileges even in this world; but beyond all these, are ftill more glorious and enriching bleffings that await them in the next, which our "ears have not yet "heard, neither can our hearts conceive.' When we attempt to think of that exalted happinefs, we can do little more than remove from it in our minds all thofe afflicting evils and grounds of difcouragement which we presently feel: only we muft conclude, that whatever the particular ingredients are, the happiness itself muft be, in all refpects, worthy of its glorious Author, and proportioned to the infinite price that was paid for it. Our Lord himself calls it a "kingdom," nay, a "kingdom prepared from "the foundation of the world;" and the Apoftle Peter hath recorded three of its diftinguishing properties, (1 Peter i. 4.) where he ftiles it an "inheritance incorruptible, undefiled, and that "fadeth not away."

Such, my brethren, is that reft which Chrift will finally beftow upon his people. They fhall "enter into the joy of their Lord." All their burdens fhall drop with their natural bodies; none of them can pafs beyond the grave. Then faith and hope fhall become fight and enjoyment; then love grown perfect shall caft out fear, and nothing fhall remain of all their former trials, but the grateful remembrance of that friendly hand which fupported them, and hath at length crowned their "light and momentary afflictions," with a "far more exceeding and "eternal weight of glory.”

AND

AND now, in the review of all that has been faid, methinks every finner who hears me fhould be ready to answer the call of my text in the language of Peter, "Lord, to whom fhall we go "but unto thee? for thou haft the words of "eternal life."O that there were fuch hearts in us!--But perhaps fome humble foul may fay, Gladly would I go to this Saviour, willingly would I throw myself at his feet and implore his protection; but fuch, alas! is my vilenefs and unworthinefs, fo long have I flighted his offers and abufed his grace, that I fear this call, kind as it is, doth not extend to me: my cafe is fingularly bad, and, and my fins have been aggravated to fuch a degree, that my defponding heart hath already pronounced the fentence of condemnation; and the doom appears fo juft, fo righteous, that I can fee no ground to hope that ever it fhall be reverfed.-For removing this obftacle, which feems to lie in the way of your return to Chrift, let me beg your attention to the following particulars.

Confider the great condefcenfion of this Redeemer. While he was upon earth, he never rejected any who fought relief from him: like a fanctuary, whofe gates ftand continually open, he gave free undebarred accefs to all, infomuch that his enemies, by way of reproach, ftyled him the friend of publicans and finners. Neither did our Lord difown the character: on the contrary, he gloried in it, and proclaimed it openly to the world; declaring, upon all proper occafions, that " he was come to feek, and to fave, "that which was loft.". For this end, he af

fumed